Fairleigh Dickinson graduates urged to give back to society

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams took off her black high heels and showed a bare foot to the crowd at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s graduation Tuesday in honor of a little Cambodian girl who lost her leg to a land mine.

Williams, a leader in the international crusade to ban land mines, spoke of the courage of Song Kosal, whose future was forever changed when she stepped barefoot into a rice paddy at age 6.

“Losing your leg as a Cambodian girl is a surefire way to be ignored, to never marry, to just be a burden on your family,” Williams told the audience at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.

In a poor rural area where most girls were expected to become rice farmers, Song Kosal chose instead to become a vocal force against land mines, “so that no other child in the world would have ... to go through the agony she went through.”

If a child without the privilege of education could find the determination to become such a strong “global citizen,” then Fairleigh Dickinson graduates, with all of their advantages, had no excuse to avoid contributing to a broader society, Williams said.

“I’m sure you will each search out a path that will bring you a good life,” Williams said. “That however does not excuse all of us from the responsibility to find ways to give back to the greater good.”

She encouraged them to give at least two hours a month to causes they believed in, such as recycling, improving public education or stopping abuse. At one point, when some excited students became raucous during her speech, she admonished them to behave.

Williams was given an honorary doctorate of humane letters in a ceremony that gave about 2,500 students doctoral, master’s bachelor’s and associate degrees. Honorary degrees also went to Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. and attorney Michel Baumeister.

The Class of 2013 represented 26 countries, 24 states plus the District of Columbia, and all 21 counties of New Jersey.